"The stories written about me were just awful... People thought all were true"- When Monica Seles blamed media portrayal for fans not appreciating her
Monica Seles once said that she did not receive enough appreciation from fans because of how the media portrayed her. This happened when she spoke after winning her second successive title at the US Open.
The year was 1992, and Seles was ranked No. 1 in the world at the time. She reached the final after winning over Audra Keller, Lisa Raymond, Claudia Porwik, Gigi Fernandez, Patricia Hy, and Mary Joe Fernandez. Here, she beat Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 6-3, 6-3 to win her eighth Grand Slam singles title. Seles did not lose a single set throughout the tournament and dropped just 27 games.
In her post-match press conference, the then-teenager was asked whether it bothered her that she did not receive enough appreciation from the fans. Seles responded by saying that the stories written about her by the media after the previous year's Wimbledon Championships (from which she withdrew, a decision that was talked about back then) played a role in this. The then World No. 1 also stated that being the World No. 1 made things like relationships with players and fans difficult.
"I think it really started with Wimbledon. I believe a lot of people– the stories that were just written about me which were just awful. Even now when I look back, the things they wrote and I think a lot of people picked up, which is very bad, but– and then also I guess, when you become number one, it is always a little harder, with everything that you do; with the relationship with the players, with everybody — it is a little more difficult," Seles said.
"I felt that with the crowd also when I became number one for a while, there is always– it’s a little tougher in a sense that when I played against Steffi, when she was number one and I was number three, it was always like that also. But I really feel there are a lot– they are a lot better than like last year than, say — I think they are realizing who I am, pretty much so," she added.
Monica Seles' career saw her being inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame
Monica Seles had eight Grand Slam titles to her name by the time she was a teenager but her career was impacted severely by the stabbing incident in Hamburg, where she was attacked by a Steffi Graf fan named Gunter Parche.
She was out of action for over two years before returning in 1995. Monica Seles did win a Grand Slam after her return from injury at the 1996 Australian Open. However, she was not as dominant as she was during her late teens. She eventually played her last tennis match in 2003.
The American was the sixth woman to become the World No. 1 since the WTA rankings were introduced, and she held the ranking for a total of 178 weeks, including 91 in a row.
Monica Seles was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009 for her exploits when she was in her 30s.